In a well arranged interview at Festac in Lagos,
historic Anioma issues were x-rayed by an ingenious historian, journalist,
writer and Anioma activist, Elder Emeka Esogbue. He told Anioma Trust, Patrick
Ochei how the name, Anioma evolved, the docility exhibited by Anioma elders in
pursuing the agitation for Anioma State, the Umu Anioma agenda and other sundry
Anioma issues, including the erroneous ceding of Igbanke to Edo State. Here are
the excerpts!
Anioma:
How do we meet you sir?
Esogbue:
My
name is Emeka Esogbue and I am from Ibusa, Oshimili North LGA, Delta State. I
am a historian, a journalist and a writer. My parents are of course from
Ibusa-Patrick Chukwudumebi and Nwasiwe Esogbue but they are now late. I think I
am better known as an Anioma activist.
Anioma:As
a historian, can you tell us how Anioma evolved as a nation?
Esogbue:
Well, first and foremost the Aniomas are duly referred to nowadays as a people
within the Delta region. They are a group of communities that have heterogeneous
histories of origin. The major towns of Anioma are Asaba, Ibusa, Issele-Uku,
Okpanam, Agbor, Obiarukwu, Kwale and the rest of them. It is important to known
that Anioma people have different histories of origins unlike what is popularly
concluded of them. For example, Ibusa have principal founders in Umejei who was
said to have hailed from Isu-that particular Isu we have lost. And we also have
Edini who was from Nri. We have Anyalobum, also another founder of Ibusa. So
like I said, Ibusa can trace their origin to Igboland. We still have a number
of them like Agbor-Agbor that traces its origin to Benin, that is well known in
history and it is not contestable. We also have Otolokpo, another community in
Anioma that traces its origin to Benin. They have seven villages which are
Alugba and others. Otolokpo was founded by migrants from Ute-Ogbeje. We also
have Abor-Aboh was founded by migrants from Benin led by Prince Obazuma. We
have quite a number of them. And we have this community in Anioma called
Ugbodu; Ugbodu people trace people trace their origin to Owo in present Ondo
State. You could see how unique they are. We have Ebu-Ebu a kind of community
in Anioma that traces its origin to Igala. So you see from what I have said
that Anioma has different origins, unlike what people tell us. Some certain
historians who are in error often make us to believe that since we are called Anioma,
that we are collectively Igbos. That is wrong historically! It is wrong because
Anioma was merely a coinage used perhaps around 1951 by Chief Dennis Osadebay.
The initial “A” stands for Aniocha, the “N” stands for Ndokwa, “I” for Ika then
“O” for Ohimili. So it is a confederation of about four local governments that
existed at that time. It is from the names of these four local governments that
the name Anioma was put together, basically it was a coinage made by Chief
Dennis Osadebay, and then you have this “Oma”-Oma in Igbo language means
something good. And if added to it, it gives it meaning. So, that is where the
name Anioma is derived from. So basically, Anioma has series of communities
that derive their origin from different ethnic groups like Igbo, Bini, Igala,
Ishan, urhobo, Yoruba and so on and so forth. But today basically, they are
seen as an ethnic group quite independent like any other existing group in
Nigeria.
Anioma:
If I may ask, what informed your signing up as a member of the Umu Anioma Foundation
Esogbue:
Well,
you know that Umu Anioma Foundation is an apex socio-cultural organization of
the Anioma people. You know over the time I have come to discover that the
region called Anioma is not really developed. And if you want to look at it
basically you will discover that our leaders in the past were very docile. That
docility arose from the fact that they were inclined to accept whatever came
their way, and it is for that reason that Anioma has become under-developed. By
habit we seem to often accept what comes our way, which is quite strange to me.
I look at it as strange because within the Nigerian polity, you will get
nothing if you don’t fight for it. Basically, the Umu Anioma Foundation was
founded to see to the development of the Anioma region. It is my propensity to
agitate for the betterment of my people, the people of Anioma. That is why I am
a prominent member of Umu Anioma Foundation.
Anioma:
So what have you done as a historian to enlighten the Anioma people about their
origin?
Esogbue:
Well,
you will agree with me that my write-up is everywhere. I have done a number of works
to enlighten the people to let them know that after the sweeping conclusion made
by the British, we still have an identity. You know when the British came; they
were the people that made the world to see us as a people attached to an ethnic
group without doing an in-depth study of what our history of origin was. You
don’t just conclude that the people belong to one ethnic group or the other
without doing an in-depths study of who they were. The best way to study the
history of the people is to look into their crown, their folktales, folklores,
songs, their culture and whatever. So in my write-ups, I believe I have
enlightened the people and I am carrying them on. I have been attending series
of workshops where I make our people to understand that we must fight for
ourselves, that we have a place to maintain. At the moment I am doing a book
and the title of that book is “Anioma: The people on the other side of the Niger”.
When it is published, it will enlighten the people more on who we are.
Anioma:
Some Anioma people are agitating for the creation of Anioma State while some
are clamouring for governorship of Delta State in 2015. What is your take on
these emerging issues?
Esogbue:
We are in the right direction. The agitation for Anioma State is long over-due.
The agitation for Anioma is older than Nigeria as a polity, the agitation began
as a recognition as a minority within the Nigerian polity, that if nothing was
done to protect us definitely we would witness what we are witnessing today-the
agitation for a separate state. And you will agree with me that that led to the
catalogue of the Willinks Commission to take care of our rights. So what I can
say is that the agitation of Anioma is quite older than the Nigerian polity. If
you look at the proposed Anioma State, it is quite viable. It is viable by
mineral resources, viable by human resources and so it is something that must
be given to us, that agitation is due. And talking about Delta State and its
governorship, you will agree with me that since creation of Delta State in
1991, we have never had a democratic governor, except the recent few days that
Sam Obi occupied that position by accident. I say by accident because I know
that my audience will understand the circumstance that led to his occupation of
that very office. And so we have never really had a democratic governor of that
state, why? It is because the other ethnic groups in that state often believe
that Delta state belongs to them, that they are the core Deltans while we are
peripheral Deltans and that the capital should not have been located in Asaba
and that since we have the capital in Asaba, it is no longer our right to
produce a governor for the state. It is quite misleading. It is misleading
because that name “Delta” does not solely belong to any particular group. It is
an English word. So I differ if they tell me that we are not Deltans because
how close is Asaba to the River Niger and how close is Aboh to the River Niger,
how close is Ibusa to the River Niger. An indepth study of that region will
tell you that we are all located within the Niger Delta region. So producing
the governor for Delta State in 2015 is our right and it remains our right.
That is why sometimes I get amused when people say that Uduaghan is there, that
there is this gentleman agreement that will enable him pass the mantle of
leadership to the Anioma people in 2015, I don’t think that is possible. It is
not possible because you won’t get it if you don’t fight for it. The other
ethnic groups within the state will not fold their arms and watch the Anioma
people walk into the state house in Asaba as governor of the state. This is why
our people must be prepared to contest.
Anioma:
But do you think we really have a united voice to fight a common course?
Esogbue:
Well, I don’t know what you mean by a common course. Maybe you mean course of
producing the next governor.
Anioma:
(Cuts in) producing the next governor and also fight for the creation of the
Anioma State.
Esogbue:
Of
course we do. Like I said to you before that in the past our leaders were
docile. The new generation of our Anioma people now knows what it takes to
fight a course. We are not going to take up arms, we are not taking up
ammunition, we are not going to throw bombs anywhere, we don’t even have the
capacity to do that. But now, we are beginning to give our people the
orientation that, you must agitate for what you think is your right within the
polity called Nigeria. And it is only when they do that, it come to you. Gen
Olusegun Obasanjo became the President of Nigeria because Chief M. K. O. Abiola
died in the battle for democracy; Dr Goodluck Jonathan is now the president of
Nigeria because his people agitated for their right. So it is because people
have become more united than what we used to be before. You can see what the
Organization for the Advancement of Anioma Culture (OFAAC) is doing,
sensitizing them with Anioma Festivals. I mean there is unity in Anioma land
now. We all know that we have become more united in the past. There are many
socio-cultural groups now, there is Izu Anioma, Onu Ika, Umu Anioma Foundation
is there. These groups are doing a lot of people work, telling our people that
there is need for unity is what we have embraced. We are now working, and am
sure, that with that we are going to be victorious in producing the next
governor and in the course of making our region a better place for everyone to
live in.
Anioma:
So you are telling me that you are optimistic, and that you are foresee the
Anioma State becoming a reality
Esogbue:
Of
course, of course. I know that Anioma State is going to be. I am telling you
with assurances that Anioma State will be created. Why Anioma State should be
created is you should remember that in 1983, even before Gen Babangida created
more states in 1991, he was not the originator of state states creation in
Nigeria. IBB inherited state creation from the civil government of Shehu
Shagari. And you know that as at that time, anioma State was selected among the
states that would be created in Nigeria, courtesy of Obi Senator Nosike Ikpo
who was a senator at that time, who worked tirelessly to see that Anioma was
selected. He appeared in the House of Senate to defend the viability of Anioma
if made a state and all other criteria that it takes to create a state in
Nigeria. And he did it so well that government accepted the proposal for Anioma
State. What was left was only a referendum which was barely some few weeks
before that referendum was to be conducted that there was a military coup. That
is the military coup that brought in Gen Muhammadu Buhari and later Gen IBB also
took over through a military coup. Babangida then created two states, Edo and
Delta out of the defunct Bendel State. He couldn’t have created three states
out of Bendel, so he had to merge our Anioma interest with those of our Urhobo,
Isoko and Ijaw neighbours as to produce one state. He used Asaba which we
wanted to use as Anioma’s capital for Delta State as headquarters while Delta
was the name used by Urhobo in their own agitation of state creation. That was
how Delta State came to be. I know that Anioma is very viable human resource
wise and mineral resource wise. We have infinite access to rivers and streams.
We have River Niger which separates Asaba from Onitsha that is if you are
talking about geographical viability. We have Akwei River and other rivers.
With these, we can get there.
Anioma:
I believe that if we had somebody like Senator Nosike Ikpo introduce the
creation of Anioma State to the senate in 1983, then somebody like Senator
Patrick Osakwe would have taken a cue from there. But it was learnt that
Senator Osakwe was against creating Anioma State based on statements credited
to him in Washington DC, USA. What do you say about this?
Esogbue:
Yes, everyone is entitled to his opinion. Senator Osakwe is just a person
compared to other millions of Anioma people who believe that Anioma State will
be created and that it must be created. So he is entitled to his opinion but
his opinion differs from those of other several millions of Anioma people who
want it.
Anioma:
Do you really consider the political class as a threat to this ambition?
Esogbue:
Do
you mean federal or our people? But they are not. They know that the creation
of Anioma State is long overdue. All we need to do is constantly remind them
that it must be created. We let them know we stand to benefit if created; we
stand to benefit a lot. Currently in Delta State, Delta State is known as the
only state in Nigeria with two state capitals-one in Asaba and the other in
Warri. That does not give room for the development of other Anioma communities,
talking about the hinterlands. What development can you point out in Anioma
communities? There are no developments as far as I am concerned,
geographically, naturally, erosion is sweeping away almost all the communities
in Anioma. The streetlights that we have are sham. In fact, I wouldn’t even
look at what we have now on ground in Asaba as development. Have you seen an
uncompleted Airport hosting flights? It is never done. People who know what I
am talking about will laugh at us. It is only in Delta State that there was
once a flight and that flight took place when there was to be election. And
after the election what happened? We thought that after that flight there could
have been series of flight taking place at the Airport, but it has never been
so.That tells you that what our people are going through. As I speak to you
there are no roads in Anioma communities. In fact, I seriously doubt if there
are any dual carriage in any Anioma town, not even in Agbor, Umunede or
Ogwashi-Uku. In Ibusa, what we have is just the Umejei Road. Even at the time
our former governor was leaving, Chief Ibori, he almost left with the NYSC
Orientation Camp in Issele-Uku but for the agitation that our people put up,
otherwise he could have left with the orientation camp. And that is basically
the only thing that the people of Issele-Uku can boast of at the moment. When
you talk about quota system our people are strongly deficient. In terms of
quota system in that state, we are lacking behind, it is a problem to our
people. When you look at the current cabinet, how many Anioma indigenes can you
see in this newly constituted cabinet of Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan? It is high
time our people woke up from slumber and do something. And the only way we can
address this is if Anioma State is created because Anioma is by far larger than
several countries of the world. Am not talking of countries in Africa but in
the world. Anioma State is long overdue so people who tend to turn blind eye to
the agitation of Anioma State do so because they believe that Delta State is
potentially richer than Anioma and if
they succeed in getting to be governor of Delta State, they are out to benefit
more money than from Anioma State. So it si for greed that those people say
Anioma State should not be created otherwise the Anioma State should be
created. We are independent of other ethnic groups in that state linguistically
and culturally. The Anioma people are homogenous economically and homogenous
economically and linguistically. We have related for centuries and so Anioma
State must be created.
Anioma:
There seems to be a deviation in our cultural attitude, what went wrong with
us?
Esogbue:
Well,
if there is a deviation from our cultural attitude, I don’t think I have
noticed it, I just heard it from you now but I will still canvass for the
strengthening of our culture, that is what the Organization for the Advancement
of Anioma Culture (OFAAC) is doing at the moment, you could see that on yearly
basis we now hold Anioma cultural festival which boost our cultural
orientation, it affords us the opportunity to showcase what we have to the
world. The 8th edition took place some months back and it was a
fiesta to behold, it was a nice one very stately.
Anioma:
But you can agree with me that our mentorship is system is fast depleting. Do
you think we can ever recover our identity, owing to the incessant practice of
cultism, ritual killings and all we now experience in our domin?
Esogbue:
I
want to agree that there have been some few cases of abductions and all of that
in Anioma land. But it is not peculiar to Anioma. It is widespread to within Nigeria. Only that in the past, it was
not known to exist in Anioma land. It is something that we must deal with and
in dealing with this, we have to appeal to our people because people who commit
these atrocities and evils live amongst us. They live with us. Some of them are
our tenants. Others are those that we relate with everyday. If we help the
police by giving them information on those that do this, it will make our
Anioma land a better place. We also need to talk to our royal fathers, elders;
we need to go back to our secondary schools, we need to organize some kinds of
debates, workshops, talk programmes to educate them on the adverse effects of
evils on our society. Cases of abduction and so on do not make a nation grow;
it sets back a nation developmentally. So if we want to grow as a nation we
must do away with all kinds of evil I our society. And so talking about
mentorship, it is unfortunate that immorality is taking over morality in our
today’s society. It is not something peculiar to Anioma but it’s something we
can deal with if we go back to the roof and fundamentals like secondary
schools, places of worship to educate our people to educate our people and make
them to see reasons why we must not live with such atrocities in our society if
we must move ahead.
Anioma:
You are from Ibusa, what can you tell us about Ibusa?
Esogbue:
Well, Ibusa is a town in Delta State, as a matter of
fact; Ibusa is located in Oshimili North Local Governent Area. One of your
media houses once referred to it as “The Dusty, Hilly Little Town”. Ibusa takes
its root from Isu and Nri though it is today an Anioma town. Ibusa is one of
the important communities of Anioma. In the days of Ekumeku, Ibusa was the town
that championed the course, it championed it to the extent that the British
sustained casualties. The commander of the British forces was Major Feston.
Ibusa forces was locally organized but
inflicted casualties on British forces, not until the British decided to use a
kind of mundane arrangement by setting their farmlands ablaze allowing hunger
to set in that Ibusa eventually surrendered. Ibusa is a community known for the
number of professors it has, it has well over a hundred professors. Today, we
are hearing Professor Augustine Onwuyali Esogbue who we are looking up to win
the prestigious Nobel Prize in sciences. He is a scientist, an Atlanta based,
he is known for his professional achievements and reputed to be the only
Blackman in the service of NASA. We also have Prof Buchi Emecheta, we have the
King of Ibusa, Obi (Prof) Louis Nwaoboshi. He is a well known academic and
today he is the monarch of Ibusa. So Ibusa is well known and is one of the
communities that Anioma are looking up to for their indigenes to play the vital
role that will help the Anioma to get Anioma State.
Anioma:
What can you tell us about Igbanke? What went wrong because they speak our
language, formerly we refer to them as part of Ika but erroneously or
intentionally Igbanke was drafted into Edo State so what do you think really
went wrong and how do you think they can migrate back to become part of the
Anioma nation?
Esogbue:
This
is quite a wonderful question. It is a question that I have been expecting to
address. I am sorry that you said it was once an Ika community. Igbanke is an
Ika community and it so remains an Ika community. It is actually one of those
few Ika communities outside Delta State. The history of Igbanke is there for
everyone to see as part of Anioma. Up till today, there has been four major
sub-groups that make up Anioma community-Aniocha, Oshimili, Ndokwa/Ukwuani and
Ika and Igbanke is one of our Ika communities. But you will understand that
Igbanke found itself in Edo State today as a wish of an individual and that is
one of those things we see in Nigeria today. An individual influencing the
destiny of a whole community negatively, making them to remain separate from
their own kith and kin in Delta State and that is why Igbanke though one of the
largest communities in Orhiowon Local Government Area is most underdeveloped
within that local government. They have been agitating to rejoin their kith and
kin in Delta State or in the proposed Anioma State.nIt is a feat that we have
to achieve. Some few years back, their youths had to go on peaceful protest
asking their leaders to give way for their ceding to either present Delta State
or the proposed Anioma State because of what they had been suffering. Igbanke
is largely marginalized economically, politically and socially. And we
understand the reason it is so. It is because it is not by origin part of Edo
State and because they have been deliberately separated from their kith and kin
that are in Delta State. You will understand that Igbanke citizens today have
hospitals, churches, banks and even filing stations in Agbor, Delta State. There
are several reasons why this are so; because they still see themselves as parts
and parcel of Delta State even though they are artificially located in Edo
State and anther is because they have not been provided with those
infrastructures. It was Chief Obafemi Awolowo who said that the major criterion
for determining the creation of a state is ethnicity. No matter how many states
you tend to be creating on yearly basis, the moment people are separated from
their own kith and kin; those people will continue to agitate for their own
separate state. And that is what we are seeing in Nigeria today and Igbanke is
a true reflection of that. But we are now happy that Igbanke people have woken
up to this consciousness. We are now hoping that by the time Anioma State is
created, Igbanke will rightly be situated in that Anioma State.
Anioma:
So what is your advice now to the Anioma people, taking a cue from our
historical background?
Esogbue:
Yea,
my advice taking a cue from our historical background is that we must forget
where we are coming from; we must not forget that though we have different
histories of origin, we have now evolved into a distinct group. We must now
take our destiny in our own hands, we must now fight our course and see to it
that we get what we get what belongs to us in the Nigerian polity. Until we do
all of that, development will continue to elude us and we don’t want that. Anyi
bu ofu!
Culled from Anioma Trust Magazine (Sep-Oct 2011), a
publication of Wikinson Publishing, Lagos
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